Lifting a 88 samurai about to purchase the SPOA / JPeater 4wdsu extreme kit from rocky-road.com.  what have you guys done for your drive shafts?   Purchased new, new slip yokes ect.  And are double cardan needed?  Also what websites should I be checking out for parts.  rocky road.  Low range off road. Trail tough.  Any other good sites out there?

Thanks Chris

I did the Trail Tough YJ swap with missing links front and rear. I took off 2" lifted Bonz-Eye springs when I did the YJ swap so I was already in the ball park on the rear but the front axle was shoved out abit. The rear cv driveshaft that I had was fine but the front needed to be longer so after talking to Brent at Trail Tough a couple different times I went with a cv front shaft.

If your u-joints are binding on the stock shafts then you will need to do something. Either a different shaft modified to fit the Samurai (a few articles out about using a Toyota shaft cut down) or a new shaft with more operating angle or a cv shaft.

I personally have not had the best of luck with RRO and will not order from them again.
I have had good experiences with Petroworks, Trail Tough, and Low Range.

In the Trail Tough YJ swap kit they provide a longer slip yoke and spacers but I just went with new longer cv shafts.
Keep in mind that if you do the rear cv shaft you will have to rotate the pinion angle.

Hope that helps.

At one time, I considered the Rocky Road stuff. I am on several Forums, and I do not remember the last time I read something positive about them.

I went with the TT YJ SPOA with ML kit and OTT steering. A great fitting kit, with no surprises. I used stock 5-leaf YJ springs, and had no issues with the stock driveshafts,  with the extended yoke and spacers. The instructions tell you how to clearance the front driveshaft to avoid binding.

I do not think a cv shaft is needed, but I have never ran one to compare the difference. I do like the stock driveshaft for parts availability and cost.

To greatly improve my Zuki's road manors, I installed a Spidertrax Anti-wrap bar, and I recently fabricated a Panhard Bar. I think the Panhard Bar is the best improvement I have made to my Zuki.


Wayne

Guess I've been lucky with RRO, because I have their SPOA kit, the JPeaterYJ kit, and the OTT steering setup and had no problems
with long order fulfillment times or missing parts, etc. Been quite awhile since I've dealt with them though.

I like the early Toyota PU front driveshaft ('85 and before) for the rear as it is nearly a perfect fit for length, the u-joints are much stronger, and if setup properly - absolutely no vibrations. The setup is pointing the rear flange directly at the Tcase when welding your SPOA spring mounts.
The drivesahft will require an adapter at each end and drilling out the flange holes for larger bolts. 4X4 Fabrication has these. Also has
a nice tranny mount that eliminates the existing crossmember under the front of the Tcase. This allows the front driveshaft to dip a
considerable amount downward.Also makes removing either the Tcase or Tranny a breeze. Used a TrailTough 2" yoke to extend the front driveshaft with no problems.

To address axle wrap, I used 5 leafs for the front end. Took 2 sets of 4 leafs for the rear, cutting the eyes off the ends of 1 set, mounting those under the eye leafs on the other set. Then cutting the next leaf on the 1st set so the cutoff end extends just  past the rear of the
spring pack plate on top of the eye leaf. This puts 6 leafs directly over the axle. I have'nt had any wrap problems with this setup running a 6.4 to 1 Tcase. Doesn't seem to affect articulation at all.

Took 2 sets of 4 leafs for the rear, cutting the eyes off the ends of 1 set, mounting those under the eye leafs on the other set. Then cutting the next leaf on the 1st set so the cutoff end extends just  past the rear of the
spring pack plate on top of the eye leaf. This puts 6 leafs directly over the axle. I have'nt had any wrap problems with this setup running a 6.4 to 1 Tcase. Doesn't seem to affect articulation at all.

I am also running 6 leaf springs made by cutting up old springs. I started with 5 pack springs and put them on all 4 corners then cut the eyes off the main spring of the 4 packs and slipping them into the 5 pack springs. Worked great and all it cost was time since I had the 4 pack leafs laying around.
...tried posting pics but didn't work.....